He should have the same football genes as me so that he could follow in myfootsteps. If he looked like me, it would be even better. I will not say: "Iwould like a clone", but hope our similarities would be easy to notice atall levels (2007)

On being booed during away games:

If they don't boo me now, I think: "Why don't the people boo me?" It'snormal. I like it (2008)

On self-doubt:

It isn't always possible to play beautifully. But I think some players inthe Premier League basically always do - and I am one of them (2006)

On his taste in women:

I prefer them with a full set of teeth (2008)

And finally, a wee gem from former Newcastle owner, Sir John Hall, who described the club's relegated squad "rubbish" and "useless".

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Work has been tough down in the mines recently, so spare time and blog posts have been scarce. But I'm back with some computer game related goodness for you.

So, I've been playing some computer games recently.

Wolverine is one of these games. What Wolverine lack in storyline, frame-rate and finesse, it makes up for with brutality and gore. I concur with this review and these comments on the game. Basically, it's total dumb-arsed fun, but I don't recommend forking out your hard earned bones to play it. Play God of War again instead and wait for Wolverine to turn up in a bargain bin.

Plants vs Zombies is also a game I've been playing. This game is seriously addictive and runs on my Mac! I recommend this game as a great time waster and at HK$28, it's a steal.

Keeping with the computer game theme, check out this interesting photo essay from the Guardian: Gold farming: a real economy in the virtual world. I have many thoughts about the implications of virtual economies and the conditions the kids in the article have to live in, but I'll save these for a more considered post.

A moments silence, 3D Realms has closed and it looks like Duke Nukem Forever will never be finished.

Given that this game has been 13 years in development, I don't think anyone is too surprised by these turn of events. Even so, I would liked to have heard the big man say "balls of steel" one last time.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

The Last Samurai follows the relationship between Sibylla, a single mother of severe intelligence and limited social skills, and her son, Ludo, who is a prodigy of learning, with an intellectually-detached curiosity about the identity of his father. The novel get its title from Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece, The Seven Samurai, which Sibylla requires Ludo to regularly watch, because she believes the film provides the male role models that he is missing.

The novel falls neatly into two halves. The first half describes Ludo's eduction - his search for knowledge and the pursuit of logic. The second half describes Ludo's search for his father and his application of logic to the realms of human emotion.

The Last Samurai is an amazing ride of ideas, which manages to be both profound and funny. This is a must read!

About Me

I was born in 1979, the son of two medical professionals. I grew up in good health in Wellington, New Zealand, a city known for being a high earthquake risk area and the capital of a nation nobody can place on a map.
Due to a lack of imagination I completed bachelor degrees in law and economics from Victoria University of Wellington and a graduate diploma in finance from the Financial Services Institute of Australia. To pay off my then ridiculous student loan, I became a corporate whore and worked for four years in NZ at a major financial services firm, specialising in financial modeling, valuation advice and public finance consulting.
In 2008 I moved to Hong Kong and offered up my soul to the lords of merges and acquisitions. I worked non-stop for two years in corporate finance, specialising in deal structuring, lead transaction advisory and financial due diligence. Then in early 2010, I realised that a career in finance was not for me.
So instead I’ve set about rediscovering myself as a writer, designer and game developer ... keep an eye on this space as the story continues.